Calling Trans Youth by Chosen Name can Drastically Reduce Chance of Suicide

Calling transgender youth by their chosen name can reduce their chance of committing suicide by as much as 65 percent, according to the Journal of Adolescent Health.

In a study of 129 transgender and gender nonconforming youth, those who were able to use their own name in all situations were found to have 71 percent fewer indications of severe depression, 35 percent less thoughts of suicide, and 65 percent less attempted suicides than those who couldn’t.

These results show the positive effect of using the chosen name of a transgender individual on their mental health, according to study author Stephen T. Russell.

“We showed that the more contexts or settings where [trans youth] were able to use their preferred name, the stronger their mental health was,” Russell said. “It’s practical to support young people in using the name that they choose. It’s respectful and developmentally appropriate.”

5 Responses

Thank you so much for this wonderful article. As a Baby boomer mtf transgender I can so relate. When I was young I’d made several very serious attempts at suicide. There was not even a distinction between gay and trans, not that any of us were accepted. Bullying and beating were pretty acceptable towards lgbtq+ kids then. So much has changed for the better but there’s much more to be done. Now I’m happy to say I love being trans.

Don’t write all of them out in a day, spread them out so include something
create everyday. Especially if you can have a steady stream of unique and different
ones. People also tend to down-play very abilities.

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